Tech Salaries to Increase in 2012

By Sara Jameson

Technology professionals enjoyed their largest annual salary growth since 2008, according to the 2012-2011 Salary Survey from Dice. After two straight years of wages remaining nearly flat, tech professionals on average earned salary increases of more than 2%, boosting their average annual wage to $81,327 from $79,384 in 2010.

A more considerable jump was noted in both size of average bonuses, up 8% to $8,769, and the number of technology professionals receiving bonuses: 32 percent in 2011, compared with 29 percent in 2010 and 24 percent in 2009. The industries most likely to pay out bonuses: Telecom, Hardware, Banking, Utilities/Energy and Software.

“Finally! Compensation has mustered some momentum, as more and more top tech markets are notching increases in pay. Silicon Valley’s compensation moved first and wrote the playbook for highly qualified tech professionals to ask for more – whether that be in Seattle, Houston or Raleigh,” said Tom Silver of Dice. “The increasing popularity of bonuses shows companies are rewarding their top performers. While everyone loves a bonus, anyone who has been through a cycle knows that bonuses both reward and punish. In fast-changing markets, it’s imperative for highly skilled tech professionals to capitalize on their career and compensation options.”

Here are some notable highlights from the survey:

1. Silicon Valley’s annual salary of $104,195, increased 5% year over year and was the highest region in the country.In addition, bonuses are both fatter and more frequent in Silicon Valley – with 38 percent of tech professionals receiving bonuses at an average of $12,450.

2. Chicago and Seattle each saw 5% increases in average tech salaries, Denver and Dallas/Ft. Worth managed 4% growth, while New York, Los Angeles and Raleigh, North Carolina each increased 3%.

3. 12 of the top 20 cities for tech jobs had above average wage growth. The largest: Austin, Texas with a 13% jump in pay to average $89,419. Portland, Oregon showed an annual wage increase of 12% to $82,055; Houston saw 7% growth ($89,307); and Washington D.C. experienced nearly 6% growth ($94,317).

According to Mr. Silver from Dice, "...Silicon Valley is going well, but it doesn’t tell the entire story when it comes to tech employment. Nationally, we’re seeing stiffer competition and higher salaries for tech pros with the right skill sets and the right experience level.”

The skills that commanded six-figure salaries and had above average year/year growth are:

2011 Avg SalaryYr/Yr Growth

ABAP – Advanced Business App Prog.$109,1573%

SOA -Service Oriented Architecture$108,2106%

ETL – Extract Transform and Load$106,5216%

Weblogic$103,7025%

JDBC-Java Database Connectivity$102,6305%

UML-Unified Modeling Language$102,5796%

JBoss$102,1845%

WebSphere$100,3487%

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Bill has been a member of the technology and publishing industries for more than 25 years and brings extensive expertise to the roles of CEO, CIO, and Executive Editor. Most recently, Bill was COO and Co-Founder of CIOZone.com and the parent company PSN Inc. Previously, Bill held the position of CTO of both Wiseads New Media and About.com.